This being the era of fake denials, I have to CYA on scoops these days so I straight up asked them on twitter and of course they didn’t respond. Now if they come out and deny, it’s not like they weren’t given an opportunity to respond.

Regardless, it could be nothing more than a general meeting that the duo took at Marvel since they’re super hot, especially with them taking the top spot at the box office this weekend. Marvel is the biggest heat seeking missile in town. Most likely Alvarez and Sayagues gave a take on a character or characters they would like to work on. The Marvel audition process for directors is a brutal one so if they do end up getting the gig writing/directing a Doctor Strange movie, then they’re going to go through lots of meetings and discussions before things get official. Such is the nature in Hollywood these days. Regardless, heard enough rumblings that I thought inquiring fanboy minds would like to know. Now y’all do!

NIKKI FINKE wrote:EXCLUSIVE:Robert Downey Jr is set for another huge payday from a mega-hit Marvel movie, this time Iron Man 3. I’ve learned he’s already made $35 million from the actioner which grossed $680 million worldwide in its first 12 days. He should exceed his biggest payday to date — that $50M from The Avengers which I’ve learned was more like $70M-$80M now that the film is all in. But it’s really Avengers 2 where he’ll clean up big-time — if he wants to reprise the role. He’s hinting to some media it may be time to retire Tony Stark. And saying to other outlets that Marvel better show him more money for Avengers 2. ”I don’t know,” he said on The Daily Show. ”I had a long contract with them and now we’re gonna renegotiate.” (“You are Iron Man! You are!” cheered Jon Stewart.) I’ve learned that Marvel and therefore owner Disney are going to run into big trouble on that sequel because the upfront pay, backend compensation, break even points and box office bonuses aren’t pinned down yet for several big stars and castmates. This is major hurdle which Walt Disney Co Chaiman/CEO Bob Iger hasn’t even mentioned to Wall Street or shareholders although he’s already been hyping Avengers 2 for more than a year now.

First and foremost Marvel does not have Downey in place yet. ”They need him, and they don’t have him. He’s got a lot of leverage,” one insider tells me. Much less so Scarlett Johannsen (paid to pop up in Marvel movie after movie), Chris Evans (whom some sources say made his deal for Avengers 2 when he signed for Captain America 2), Chris Hemsworth (a much bigger star now than before and unsigned for Avengers 2), Mark Ruffalo (whose Hulk role already was cast 3 times and could be the most vulnerable), Jeremy Renner (probably grateful for more exposure), Samuel L. Jackson (Scarlett’s doppelganger) among others who were paid pittances for their first movies, not much better for the sequels, and are counting on at least $5 million upfront and better back ends for Avengers 2. That means much better than what Marvel claimed was Avengers’ break-even point: a whopping $1.1 billion in global grosses. (“If Avengers wasn’t profitable until then, why would you make it?” one rep pointedly asked Marvel top execs Kevin Feige and Louis Esposito.) In a business where studio accounting is known as fatal subtraction and even worldwide blockbusters are still supposedly in the red, Marvel and its famously frugal CEO Ike Perlmutter still give new meaning to the term stingy. I’ve learned that one reason why The Avengers was nominated for only one Oscar – Best Visual Effects – in the 85th Academy Awards contest was because Marvel refused to pay for an awards season campaign for the picture. And even when Disney offered to foot the bill, Marvel still wouldn’t budge. (Yet the Academy Of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences assembled the cast onstage to create buzz.) Here’s how one exec describes any negotiation with Marvel: “I wouldn’t say it’s brutal. It’s uncompromising, not mean or draconian. The fact is this is the reality of the world we’re living in right now.”

But The Avengers cast are ready to rumble with Marvel for the Avengers sequel slated for a May 2015 release. “Some received only $200,000 for Avengers and Downey got paid $50M. On what planet is that OK?” an insider tells me. CAA represents an overwhelming majority of the Marvel stars and is trying hard to keep the negotiations out of the public limelight and media headlines. But that may not be possible with some reps blaming the studio for ’scorched earth’ tactics past and present. ”Marvel has created so much animosity by strong-arming and bullying on sequels already. It’s counterproductive,” one source tells me. Says another, “I’m sick of Kevin Feige telling me again and again how Marvel is ‘reinventing the movie business’. It doesn’t work like this. They’re reinventing business, period.” I’ve learned Marvel already has threatened to sue or recast when contracts and/or options are challenged. That prompted a few cast members to respond, “Go ahead.” I hear Hemsworth especially wasn’t anxious to go back into that arduous diet and training regimen and subsist primarily on egg whites for Thor: Dark World which hits theaters November 8th. I also understand that Scarlett Johanssen told castmates she’s “not going to cut her quote” for Marvel’s Avengers 2. The actress as butt-kicking operative Black Widow in The Avengers and Iron Man 2 is wrapping Captain America: The Winter Soldier and has a whopping 8 options total.

Already a lot of brinkmanship played out for Captain America 2 and Thor 2. Calling it the “weirdest experience”, one rep still can’;t believe Marvel offered “only a $500,000 raise and then would pay another $500,000 when the movie hits $500M. Are they out of their minds?” When it was pointed out to Marvel that Hemsworth already had received $5M for his starring role in Snow White And The Huntsman, the studio shot back, ”I don’t know why you’re complaining when Marvel only has hit movies.” To which the response was, “He’s happier working at a place like Universal.” After hard-fought bargaining, Chris Evans for Captain America 2 and Chris Hemsworth for Thor 2 wound up with deals still weighted on the back end but at least with attainable break-even numbers and small upfront guarantees and box office bonuses.

The issue going forward is how many of the Avengers stars and starlets are still bound by early agreements and longterm options which Marvel can continue to exploit individually. To counter, I’ve learned the Avengers cast are becoming united behind Robert Downey Jr who is seen as the “leader” – like “a big brother” in the words of one rep - for all the younger actors in the ensemble. “He’s the only guy with real power in this situation. and balls of steel, too. He’s already sent a message that he’s not going to work for a place where they treat his colleagues like shit,” one source explains. Another rep tells me, “I have four words for Marvel – ‘Fuck you, call Robert.’” As Downey himself has said publicly about his $50M-plus payday, ”I’m what’s known as a strategic cost,” adding that Marvel is “so pissed” he earned that much. At this point also, no one is talking Iron Man 4 yet but it’s hard not to anticipate. Don Cheadle predicted there’s “potential” for a 4th installment. “No one has been specific about what that might look like or what the story could even be,” he said. “First we have to see how this one plays and if people have an appetite for it, and then we’ll figure out if there’s a way to convince Robert to come back and do another one.”

Some reps tried to go straight to Iger in hopes of discussing renegotiations since Disney purchased the multimedia empire in 2009 for $4.3B - but were rebuffed. “Wait, that’s Marvel. You need to talk to them. I can’t have this conversation,” Iger replied, thus totally distancing himself. Other reps hoped Walt Disney Studios Chairman Alan Horn would be helpful. But Horn made clear that Marvel greenlights their own movies and only “coordinates” with him. Besides, he tells reps, “Marvel is doing such a great job running itself.” (In fact Horn himself only met Marvel CEO Ike Perlmutter last fall and told a pal about their get-together. “It could not have gone better. We had a meal. I was very impressed with his directness. We’re the same age: how could we not have a good time together?”)

The sad truth is that both Iger and Horn are scared stiff of Perlmutter and want to steer clear of the inevitable nightmare negotiations. Reps predict Ike is “going to create a lot of drama and going to want to prove a point and not look like he’s going to get run over”. Says one out of frustration: “I’m so bent out of shape by this asshole. He now works for a public company so I don’t understand how he can keep hiding behind the curtain.” Easy, because the Israeli-born and reclusive Perlmutter, worth $2.4B, is Disney’s third largest individual shareholder. (He had been the second biggest shareholder but that changed when Disney added Star Wars to its empire and handed George Lucas a ginormous compensation package. Disney’s top shareholder remains the Steve Jobs Trust.) Disney never dared hope that The Avengers would reap $1.5 billion in worldwide box office revenue, the third highest global gross ever. Yet no castmember has ever heard from Ike. True, Kevin Feige phoned the cast that weekend opening, but it was a first. And Iger did pick up the phone to congratulate filmmaker Joss Whedon who recalled to Deadline recently: “He couldn’t have been sweeter. He said ‘This wasn’t about the other movies — you did this’.”

Acknowledging “I’m doing okay” compensation wise, Whedon reportedly has a “really rich deal” worth and astronomical $100M for several pics, consulting work, a put pilot at ABC, and many other elements,” one source tells me. But even Whedon admits that “Marvel can be very cheap” and believes the reason the cast aren’t ”getting giant quotes” is because of ”the element of the opportunity here for something that is both popular and very human, and usually you have to choose as an actor”. But he does see the potential contract hardball as “an issue”.

Here are the pertinent parts of that interview:

DEADLINE: Marvel is notoriously cheap and some of the Avengers cast will want more money for the sequel. How could that affect Avengers 2?WHEDON: I’m not going to comment specifically because I’m not privy to that sort of stuff and I don’t think it’s my place to talk about. In general terms, yes – Marvel can be very cheap, God knows. They can also be sensible and frugal. They have a very small infrastructure and they’re not heaping this money on themselves. I don’t know a producer who’s done more and is paid less than Kevin Feige. I think that it’s an issue but it’s part of a bigger issue, which is there was a time when there was a crisis in the acting community where stars were getting $20 million and character actors were disappearing as a concept. There were no middle class actors. It was suddenly bit players and Jim Carrey, and that was it. Now the studios have gotten to a point where they’re like, “Do we need that star?” With what they’re able to to digitally and the way they create franchises there’s a little bit of a feeling of, maybe we can eliminate the actor – not totally and not totally cynically, but I’ve literally heard people at the agency say, not about Marvel, “This studio is eliminating the middle movie. They’re not making dramas or prestige pics or anything that isn’t either a franchise or a Paranormal-style found footage”. I think that changes the landscape for actors because really good actors are interested in doing a franchise because they need something.

DEADLINE: So are you worried about losing talent over these kinds of disputes?WHEDON: I feel good about Avengers because I feel everyone who took it got something to sink their teeth into. They weren’t hung out to dry. It’s not a soulless piece of work. It may be inept in some places but I meant every word. Marvel distinguished themselves by going after good actors, writers, and directors who were unexpected choices. One side to that is they don’t have to pay them as much. Me, [Jon] Favreau, [Kenneth] Branagh, James Gunn – we don’t have giant action quotes, but we’re all filmmakers who want to do something with a giant action movie instead of just accomplish it. And the actors, from Downey straight on through, they only went after the people who could get it done. So how come they’re not getting giant quotes on this movie? There’s the element of the opportunity here for something that is both popular and very human, and usually you have to choose as an actor.DEADLINE: A movie makes a billion dollars and an actor is looking at their contract for the next sequel…WHEDON: And they’re probably going to mention that.

DEADLINE: You don’t think this could conceivably create any problems for Avengers 2?WHEDON: I don’t, because that would make me sad and I tend to be a bit Pollyanna. I tend to think these roles can alter the course of a career. Not that Mark Ruffalo needs this or is in pursuit of this. That man will always work. But it doesn’t suck. We had an amazing time making the movie and that kind of recognition doesn’t hurt, if it’s not with Marvel or the next guy. It’s useful.

Hey folks, Harry here... about an hour ago a rumor came up in the AICN Bullpen - this link - which takes you to a COMIC BOOK MOVIE story that seems to say Sony may part with SPIDER-MAN. Then goes on to speculate about how Spidey would become part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

With a rumor like that - I decided to just contact Amy Pascal at Sony, she's co-chair of the whole Sony Pictures Entertainment. I dropped her a quick link to ComicBookMovie's story and asked if there was any truth to it. To be honest, I was expecting to just get a "LOL" because seriously - in this day and age, what fool would get rid of a Marvel property? Well, about 15 minutes later, Amy Pascal was on the phone and the word denial isn't strong enough. Amy said that she would "Never ever ever" let go of SPIDER-MAN. She feels the property is directly tied to her legacy and time at SONY. Not just that, she is really thrilled by the work on the new film.

SO - folks - SPIDER-MAN's home looks to be SONY for a long time to come.

Aaron Sagers wrote:Geek: What are some upcoming Marvel movies you know about and – because you’re partial to the Silver Surfer -- do you think he’ll ever get a standalone film?

Lee: Well, let me put it to you this way: Back at Marvel, they are frantically looking for what is the next one they’re going to do. There is no way they won’t eventually do a Silver Surfer movie. It may not be for a few years because they’re thinking and working on Doctor Strange, Black Panther, Ant-Man, Guardians of the Galaxy. Everything we have. And the fans seem to want all of them. But they’ll get around to a Silver Surfer feature because he’s a wonderful character.

Exclusive: Marvel Wants To Introduce New Characters Via Short Films The Marvel movie universe is one of the most exciting things to happen to comic book fans in years. We've been given some good films like the first two Spider-Man movies and Blade, but most have been bad, like Daredevil, Elektra, Fantastic Four and Ghost Rider. Lately the films have been getting better and better with superheroes being given individual movies (Thor, Captain America) that tie in to bigger features.

With Iron Man 1 and 2 having been huge critical and financial success stories for Marvel (and now) Disney, one of the big questions has been how they plan on introducing secondary characters to fans. Through straight-to-dvd live action movies? Animated films? Or just throwing them into bigger movies like The Avengers and Iron Man 3? If you'll recall, CHUD reported a couple of months ago on Marvel/Disney looking at doing smaller films in the $20 to $40 million dollar range. But now it appears as if they want to introduce the characters in a way that would still be effective and not as financially risky.

Got a scoop from a well trusted source that Marvel/Disney are looking at doing 10 minute short films in front of their feature length movies that will introduce secondary characters like Black Panther, Luke Cage, Dr. Strange, etc.

I have no other information on this. Such as what movie they plan on starting this with (Avengers maybe?) or what character(s) they plan on introducing first.

File this scoop under 'rumor' for now until we can try and get more information on it. Personally I think it's a great idea. I think a short would generate interest in new characters that audiences aren't familiar with and Marvel/Disney can guage the reaction from fans if it's a project that can be made into a full length feature film or possible involvement/team-ups in bigger features.

Stay tuned to Latinoreview as we try and uncover more on what could be a very cool idea for the Marvel movie universe.

Adam Rogers wrote:In the midst of the massive geek Mecca that is San Diego Comic-Con, the big Marvel Studios movie panel had all the theater of a presidential campaign rally. Tom Hiddleston appeared in costume as Loki, the bad guy from Thor, and rallied the crowd in character. Then: so many movie stars, including the full casts of the upcoming Captain America sequel and Guardians of the Galaxy. And just when it seemed like it was over, Joss Whedon, patron saint of nerds, walked out for a Steve Jobsian one-more-thing and introduced the first teaser for The Avengers sequel. Eight thousand fans, some of whom had been waiting in line since the night before, shrieked like their souls were being ripped from their bodies.

Back in 2006, the very first Marvel Studios panel didn’t have quite the same swagger. Iron Man director Jon Favreau was there, and it was like, the Swingers guy? Louis Letterier was insisting his version of the Hulk would wash away the arty taste of Ang Lee’s earlier version, while Edgar Wright promised Ant-Man, like he always does. In the middle of it all was the stalwart, relaxed studio president Kevin Feige, the man with a production credit on just about every movie and TV show with a Marvel character for the last 13 years.

Inevitably, a fan stood up and asked whether any of the Marvel characters might cross over into each others’ movies, the way they often do in the comic books. “Who knows?” Feige answered. “This is a big new experiment for Marvel. But it’s no coincidence that we have the rights to Iron Man, Hulk, Thor, Cap—” and the crowd started to cheer that soul-tearing cheer. That moment, Feige later recalls, was when he started thinking that he could build a series of interrelated movies, the cinematic equivalent of what comics nerds call “continuity.” He wanted do something that only comic book villains ever think they can get away with: build a universe.

Feige’s—and Marvel’s—subsequent success is about more than fanboy and fangirl dreams, however. Comic book superheroes are intellectual property, and the Walt Disney Company, Marvel’s corporate parent, takes the profit potential of this universe very seriously. And just as Disney owns Marvel, Time Warner owns Marvel’s chief competitor DC, home of a whole other roster of heroes like Superman, Batman, and the Flash. Movies based on DC comics have a spotty record; there’s The Dark Knight, sure, but you also have Superman Returns, Green Lantern, Watchmen, and a litany of failures-to-launch with Wonder Woman.

Which brings us back to this year’s Comic-Con, where director Zack Snyder orchestrated his own bit of theater at the Warner Bros. panel by announcing his follow-up to Man of Steel: a crossover between Superman and Batman that will be the first step to creating a shared DC film universe culminating in an epic team-up, Justice League. So now the question isn’t “How does Kevin Feige ride herd over a collection of interrelated comic-book movies?” The better question is, “Can anyone else?”

Back in the days before everyone knew to stick around through the credits of a superhero movie for an extra scene, Samuel L. Jackson showing up at the end of Iron Man was nothing more than an Easter egg, a joke for the faithful. It was no different than the time George Clooney’s Batman wisecracked that disobedient sidekicks were the reason Superman works alone (a thing that actually happened in a real movie). Feige changed that.

When Favreau’s Iron Man became a hit, the Jackson cameo at the end and a few other Easter eggs became the key to a new kind of franchise, a movie universe that had architecture. “I could arguably say what we’re planning for the year 2021,” Feige told WIRED. “Will that happen? I don’t know. But what we planned for 2015 in 2006 is happening.”

Since its inception Marvel always had a tighter continuity than DC, but that doesn’t mean the movies had to work that way. For years, in fact, they didn’t. The X-Men and the Fantastic Four were contracted to Fox, and Spider-Man to Sony. Under that structure, those characters would never meet. When Marvel became an independent production company in 2009, though, it retained the rights to many of the other characters with less recognition among non-fans and even casual readers. Once Iron Man proved that Marvel could take one of those B-grade heroes and turn him into a hit, the company could try to translate the formula to others.

When Feige went to Favreau with the idea of a scene with Jackson as Nick Fury, trying to queue up a movie that wasn’t a sequel was foreign. Now writers and directors know what they’re getting when they come to Marvel. “They had a very clear idea when we came to the table. They had a good draft of the script,” says Anthony Russo, who with his brother Joe is directing Captain America: The Winter Soldier. “They had a very good idea of what they needed and they gave us what we needed.”

In this case, say the brothers, that means they’ve been allowed—even encouraged—to make their Captain America into a 1970s-style political thriller, very different from the first movie’s 1940s war-film vibe. Joe name-checks The Parallax View, Three Days of the Condor, and All the President’s Men as inspirations. But that’s stylistic; the story comes straight from the comics, specifically a recent, terrific run by writer Ed Brubaker. The Russos even consulted directly with Brubaker to get it right, they say.

So where does Feige fit in? In a universe with architecture, he’s the architect. His deep knowledge of Marvel arcana helped make him an associate producer on the first X-Men movie, and since then his ability to translate that comic book knowledge into something useful to filmmakers, though, has proven nothing short of (ahem) uncanny. “Disney has allowed us to be a relatively small, tight-knit brain trust,” Feige says. “These billion-dollar ventures come down to 10 people or fewer in a room saying, ‘You know what would be cool?’”

Feige is coordinating at least a half-dozen films in various stages of production, making sure their individual arcs serve the overall direction. He can offer writers solutions from the Marvel MacGuffin file. (Cosmic Cube? Howling Commandos? Destroyer armor?) He sees costume and makeup tests. He regularly consults with a few writers working at the comic company, but aside from Brubaker, the Russos never talked to them. That was Feige’s job. “The comics side has input, but it’s filtered through Kevin Feige,” says Anthony Russo.

“Kevin is a genius,” says Joe. “The guy is an auteur producer. There’s nobody quite like him in the business right now,” said Joe. And if Feige and the studio needed their movie to connect certain dots that would tee up Avengers 2? That was fine by the Russos.

Feige has had good luck with finding directors with visions big enough to make a movie work but not so big that they wouldn’t subsume pieces into a larger puzzle. The universe that Feige oversees is, like the real universe, expanding. The next non-sequel to come from the studio is Guardians of the Galaxy, roughly the opposite of a recognizable comic book or fan favorite.

“It has a small, rabid fan base,” Feige says, potentially overestimating both its size and its disease status. But that doesn’t matter–Marvel isn’t making Guardians because the fans demanded it. “Five years ago, looking at our plan, we knew that if Avengers was going to work, the movies had to stand alone,” he says. “Now we have to prove to the studio that we’re more than just these five characters, these five franchises.”

Guardians does that by opening up a new corner of Marveldom. Thor and even Avengers both teed up a space-opera, science-fictional set of stories. If they work, that opens the door to other space-based heroes like Nova and Captain Marvel. (Not the one who says “Shazam!” That’s DC. The Marvel one is a woman.) Eventually the purple dude introduced in the teaser at the end of Avengers, a universe-destroying Big Bad named Thanos, could even show up and unite both the Avengers and the Guardians. Good luck fitting that panel onto the stage at Hall H.

And if Guardians fails and Marvel’s space stories fall down a black hole? The studio reportedly wants to push into the psychedelic, magical parts of the canon with a movie about the sorcerer Doctor Strange, another character with a supporting cast big enough to fill another team-up. (Defenders! There, I said it.)

Feige makes it look so easy that it’s easy to wonder, well, why don’t the DC movies do the same thing? On television, the DC universe actually had a consistent continuity from 1992 to 2006, thanks to a series of wonderful cartoons sprung mostly from the minds of Paul Dini and Bruce Timm. But in the bigger-stakes world of movies, while director Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy was a success (and good), it didn’t even attempt to connect to anything outside itself. Nolan intentionally made his Batman the weirdest thing in an otherwise realistic world; it’s arguably the case that the biggest flaw in Dark Knight Rises was Bane, a character who kind of sort of had superpowers.

Nolan, as executive producer on Snyder’s Man of Steel, could presumably have inserted Marvel-style Easter eggs into that movie–a mention of Wayne Enterprises along with the Lexcorp references, let’s say, or someone wondering why the military didn’t call in that guy with the magic green ring. But nope. There weren’t any.

DC’s Green Lantern tried it with Angela Bassett’s character Amanda Waller, who has a connective-tissue role in the DC universe similar to Nick Fury’s in Marvel. Which makes Green Lantern an object lesson in what would have happened if Iron Man flopped: nothing. We all move on. Nothing to see here. No bigger universe.

Ask Feige what makes his particular kind of world-building possible and he says, simply, “have a plan.” It doesn’t have to be set in stone, he adds. His current estimate is that Marvel movies have been three-quarters plan and 25 percent bob-and-weave.

Ask the folks at DC and Warner Bros. who’s making that plan for them, and the answer is … not forthcoming. It could be Diane Nelson, president of DC Entertainment, the Los Angeles-based shop the company set up to push into Hollywood. Though Nelson, who handled the Harry Potter properties before coming on board at DC in 2009, isn’t a long-time comic book nerd like Feige.

It could be Geoff Johns, a comic book writer with a Hollywood background (who fans and some movie folks say was influential in the Green Lantern movie’s dive into superfluous comic book backstory). It could be Nolan, even though he hasn’t indicated any desire to do it. It could be Snyder, who loves comics but made a movie where Superman let tens of thousands of people die in Metropolis while punching an invulnerable dude. (Just saying.)

DC declined to participate in this story, and representatives wouldn’t say who, if anyone, was overseeing the broader DC cinematic universe to come. The company has announced that after Snyder’s Batman-Superman movie, it’ll make one about the Flash, and then Justice League. The Flash is also slated to appear on the CW television series Arrow, though DC hasn’t said whether it’ll be the same version of character. And since Christian Bale has said he won’t play Batman again, the movie seems likely to be a reboot, especially because Snyder seems to be taking his inspiration from the dystopian future Batman comic The Dark Knight Returns, where a sixtysomething Batman comes out of retirement and ultimately fights Superman. That’s the kind of team-up that could make joining the Justice League together awkward.

None of that means those movies will be bad. Broadly, Warner Bros. as a studio has a reputation for hiring directors at the top of their game and letting them execute a singular vision. But that also makes it a bit harder to ask them to mention the same paramilitary spy organization that’s in all these other movies over here, if they wouldn’t mind? Regardless, it’ll be difficult for Warner Bros. to start making movies that take place in a shared universe, simply because they haven’t done it yet.

“The rules of the game have been the same for us since we became Marvel Studios, and everybody knows when they sign up to play in our sandbox, those are the rules,” says Feige. “My only guess is, at Warner Bros., that would be a change of the rules. But I think they’re changing the rules right now over in Hall H.”

As for whether DC will be able to achieve success in a sandbox of their own, Anthony Russo seems skeptical, if only because Marvel’s own man with a plan won’t be involved. “This has all come together on the shoulders of Kevin Feige,” says Anthony. “I don’t know if others can do it.”

His brother Joe is a little more sanguine. “What’s great is that Zack is doing it, and there’s a continuity there,” he says. “You need a creative voice to pull a thread through these films.” Nobody questions Snyder’s bona fides as a creator with a vision. Still, though–maybe Warner Brothers should consider a little judicious recruiting from their competitors.

"I would like to take over the Iron Man franchise for Robert Downey Jr., [but] it's one of those things where I kind of like playing real people, [so] I've never been asked. Once I was kind of being talked about for the Robin role in Batman Forever -- somebody dodged a bullet!"

Latest DOCTOR STRANGE Rumor Points To Jon HammSigh. We knew this was bound to happen once the floodgates were opened with the Johnny Depp thing, but now every site and blog out there claim to know which actor Marvel want for..a movie without a script or a director.

Motion Captured:Marvel Studios hands 'Thor 3' to one of their execs-turned-screenwriterThe franchise is in good hands, so where is it headed?What's interesting about the Phase Three films that Marvel is planning to make is that they are all going to have to be fairly focused on moving major story elements forward, considering what happens to the team at the end of "Avengers: Age Of Ultron." If the first film was all about building the team for the first time and proving that they could work together, it was also about Thanos testing Earth's defenses so he could figure out what he was up against. "Age Of Ultron" is more focused on each of The Avengers having to deal with the results of actions we've seen from them in earlier films, with some serious fall out on every front. By the end of the film, the team that we saw in the first film will be shattered. There will still be a group of people called The Avengers, but it's not going to be Thor, Hulk, Iron Man, and Captain America anymore. The third film will have to bring everyone back together to stand against Thanos as he finally makes his move on Earth, and considering how many of the Infinity Stones he'll have by that point, I'm not sure how anyone's going to plan to stop him.

More importantly, if my sources are correct, the end of "Age Of Ultron" sets up a difficult situation for Thor as Midgard and Asgard find themselves looking at a possible war. Could we be looking at the beginning of Ragnarok, brought on by Loki in the guise of Odin? Could the third film find Thor having to fight against the realm that he's spent so much time defending?

Victor Jones wrote:I can confirm that as of the end of January, Marvel had no plans to make a Guardians 2. Marvel was planning on Guardians being a one and done. So unless they have done a complete 180 in the last couple weeks, I very much doubt there will be a Guardians 2.

I mean, I wouldn't necessarily be opposed to it. But this sounds like more of a half-hearted exploratory committee than anything else to me. Marvel has rightly gotten a lot of criticism for being a boys' club, in front of and behind the camera, which is why every now and then you hear something about Ms. Marvel or "Agent Carter," or a new Netflix show by that woman who wrote the Twilight movies (yay...?). They are aware that some people would like them to diversify, even if they don't do anything about it in the long run.

I'd be a little surprised if ScarJo signed up for this (caveat: not sure if she already did as part of her Avengers movie(s) deal). I don't know what she'd gain from this aside from a meaty paycheck. It has all the potential to fail, and I imagine the best it could do would be moderately successful.

they could make it and be successful with it, if they put her in a Bourne-type story, make it "small" not a big blockbuster action flick, more of a thriller with action. if they were REALLY smart they would use the opportunity to relaunch DD in that movie as well, the two of them would fit well together in a movie like that and provide a way to give DD his own movie down the road. won't happen but it would be cool if it did

so sorry wrote:I'd be a little surprised if ScarJo signed up for this (caveat: not sure if she already did as part of her Avengers movie(s) deal). I don't know what she'd gain from this aside from a meaty paycheck. It has all the potential to fail, and I imagine the best it could do would be moderately successful.

depends on the marketing. slap scarjo's black-leather-clad ass on a poster and there's your first $100mil guaranteed.

so sorry wrote:I'd be a little surprised if ScarJo signed up for this (caveat: not sure if she already did as part of her Avengers movie(s) deal). I don't know what she'd gain from this aside from a meaty paycheck. It has all the potential to fail, and I imagine the best it could do would be moderately successful.

depends on the marketing. slap scarjo's black-leather-clad ass on a poster and there's your first $100mil guaranteed.

so sorry wrote:I'd be a little surprised if ScarJo signed up for this (caveat: not sure if she already did as part of her Avengers movie(s) deal). I don't know what she'd gain from this aside from a meaty paycheck. It has all the potential to fail, and I imagine the best it could do would be moderately successful.

depends on the marketing. slap scarjo's black-leather-clad ass on a poster and there's your first $100mil guaranteed.

slap her bare ass on the poster and there's your first $200 mil

if you literally "slap" her bare ass on the poster you just made the most successful Marvel movie ever

Feige: Marvel Studios Won't Swap 'Mutant' for 'Inhuman'With the movie rights to X-Men and all related concepts residing with Fox, that leaves a noticeable void in the mythology of Marvel Studios’ universe when it comes to particular characters. Namely, what are Marvel’s non-X-Men mutants when they can’t be mutants anymore?

The increased profile of the “Inhuman” concept in Marvel Entertainment’s publishing line — essentially, that regular humans one day wake up with powers and abilities due to genetic heritage they weren’t even aware of — has led some to believe that Marvel’s movies will simply rename “mutants” as “inhumans.” According to Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige, however, that’s not the case.

“Inhumans is something that we are definitely thinking about and we think there’s great potential there for a great movie,” he told the Huffington Post. “But, no, no — we have not linked those two [concepts].” When asked directly whether “inhuman” could become the new “mutant” for the Marvel movies, he replied, “As it relates to Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver? No. No, no, no.”

Kevin Feige Says CAPTAIN MARVEL Film Has Been Discussed "A Lot"Marvel has been trying to develop a Black Widow solo film for Scarlett Johansson, but many fans would rather see Captain Marvel be the first female standalone film produced by the studio. Badassdigest approached Feige about this. See what he had to say.

Devin Faraci wrote:While Marvel has sidestepped the issue of magic in the Thor movies by just making it advanced Asgardian technology, Doctor Strange is much more directly set in the world of wizardry. After all, Dr. Stephen Strange’s job title is Sorceror Supreme. I sat down with Marvel honcho Kevin Feige at the junket for Captain America: The Winter Soldier and asked him how Marvel intended to move into the realms of magic and the unknown.

Are you watching the Cosmos series? That’s magic, [the quantum physics]. It’s unbelievable. If somebody knew how to tap into that stuff, what’s the difference between that and magic?

You don’t get into it in Harry Potter, but if a scientist went to Hogwarts he’d find out how some of that stuff is happening! We’re not going to spend a lot of time on that, but there will be some of that. And particularly for a character like Strange, who goes from a man of science to a man of faith and who traverses both worlds. And sometimes there won’t be an answer! Sometimes he’ll want an answer - “How is this happening?!” - and nothing.

Doctor Strange also has to be weirder as a movie. The Marvel films have so far had something approaching a house style - even Winter Soldier, which has its own look, fits into the larger Marvel aesthetic. But Feige sees Doctor Strange being quite different.

“Doctor Strange needs to be a Ditko/Kubrick/Miyazaki/The Matrix mind-trip,” he said. With all the recent news about directors being courted for the film this is interesting - who will be able to deliver for Marvel the kind of mind-trip Feige wants while also making a movie that will hit a wide audience?

Assuming Fox's "Fantastic Four" strikes a chord with audiences, there's one obvious direction to push the team -- toward Galactus. But before Fox can reintroduce the devourer of worlds in a future "Fantastic Four" film, it would be nice to spend a little time with the Silver Surfer, the cosmically-powered being who serves as Galactus' herald. Imagine how much more poignant Norrin Radd's self sacrifice could be if fans get to know the Surfer prior to his boss threatening to destroy Earth. A "Silver Surfer" film could not only introduce a new hero to moviegoers, but double as a slower introduction to the mind-blowing concept that is Galactus -- this time in all his glory, not just as a purple cloud. With "Guardians of the Galaxy" headed to theaters courtesy of Marvel Studios, a "Surfer" film could allow Fox to build their own cosmic Marvel U including the Shi'ar, the Brood, or even the Starjammers, all concepts and characters that can make a future impact on the "X-Men" films.

BROOKS BARNES wrote:As for DC Entertainment, cross-studio collaboration to make better use of its comic book characters appears to have accelerated considerably since Mr. Tsujihara took over, in part because he eliminated some management layers. (He has not named a chief operating officer and did not replace Mr. Rosenblum and Mr. Robinov, choosing instead to divide up their duties and assume some himself.) Two new television shows are coming to the CW and Fox, including one based on the Flash and another on a young Batman, and a film series will be announced in the near future, Mr. Tsujihara said. It is expected to include a “Justice League” movie.

Devin Leonard wrote:Or perhaps Iger has a built-in GPS for acquiring studios that can tell stories. Much of Marvel’s success can be attributed to Feige. He has a special understanding of comics, fans, superheroes, and narrative. He concedes that Marvel won’t recover the film rights to Spider-Man or the X-Men anytime soon but says Marvel has something more valuable: a universe of thousands of characters it controls entirely. That means Feige can produce an unlimited number of films with interweaving story lines and characters, creating a vast audience for almost any Marvel movie. People might show up for The Avengers, meet the Black Widow, and come back for her movie, too. There’s a map of films reaching far into the next decade on the wall of Feige’s office. “It’s like looking through the Hubble telescope. You go, ‘What’s happening back there? I can sort of see it,’ ” he laughs. “They printed out a new one recently that went to 2028.”

The success of The Avengers banished any remaining doubts about Iger’s $4 billion investment in Marvel. “It was not clear until they did The Avengers how big Marvel could be,” says Merrill Lynch’s Cohen, acknowledging her earlier lack of faith. And The Avengers didn’t triumph at the box office only because it was a good movie. Until then, most of Marvel’s films had been distributed by Paramount Pictures (VIA). Disney threw every division of the company, from theme parks to television to consumer products, behind The Avengers. “All Paramount cares about is the distribution fee,” says Iger. “Now that we distribute these movies, it’s not about a fee. It’s not even about box office. It’s about the entire entity doing well, which ultimately lifts the Disney stock.” A sequel, Avengers: Age of Ultron, is scheduled for release in May 2015.

Iger would like to replicate the success of The Avengers with other Marvel teams. He says Marvel could potentially spin off members of the Guardians of the Galaxy, which include Star-Lord, Gamora, Drax, Groot, and Rocket Raccoon, in their own features. In November, Disney announced a deal with Netflix (NFLX) to create individual TV shows about Daredevil, Luke Cage, Iron Fist, and Jessica Jones. They will join forces in a fifth series called The Defenders. Iger and Alan Horn, chairman of Walt Disney Studios, recently met with the Marvel team to talk about new heroes who will be introduced in Age of Ultron and could be spun off in their own films as well. Iger declines to name them. “The possibilities are endless,” he says.

Tim Beyers wrote:Comic books and comic book movies have rarely been more popular, which explains why Twenty-First Century Fox picked up the movie rights to creator Mark Millar's Superior. But will the deal pay off for the studio? Or has the market become overcrowded with niche adaptations?

Host Ellen Bowman puts these questions to analysts Nathan Alderman and Tim Beyers in this week's episode of 1-Up On Wall Street, The Motley Fool's web show in which we talk about the big-money names behind your favorite movies, toys, video games, comics, and more.

The story is clever enough, and could play well with moviegoers. An M.S.-stricken young boy longing to regain his athleticism wishes to become a superhero dubbed "Superior." Soon after, the creature that granted the wish -- a demon monkey from Hell -- reveals to the boy that he'll have to sell his soul if he's to retain his new, more powerful form.

There's also history to consider. When looking at estimated return on investment, Nathan found that six of the 10 most profitable comic book movies were sourced from independent properties. The Mask tops the list with a better than 409% return, followed closely by the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles at 398%. Distributor New Line Cinema, now part of Time Warner, was independent at the time these movies were released.

Now big studios such as Fox want a bigger piece of the indie action, and they're turning to proven performers like Millar. Movies adapted from his independent comics have earned an estimated 9.2% return on investment after factoring in budget, marketing, and distribution, Nathan says. That's a huge difference from the average indie, which checks in at a 6% box office loss.

Tim adds that there's also parallel track emerging wherein different studios are tackling different aspects of the genre. Marvel and DC are pursuing the PG-13 crowd, and enjoying big grosses as a result. Indies, by contrast, tend to carve out darker, R-rated stories.

Investors shouldn't presume that these properties are going to drive huge profits because R-rated properties almost never do -- unless the movie in question is cheap to make, like a good horror flick. Or, The Mask. Or the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Fox needs to be thinking similarly when it comes to Superior and other indies it acquires.